Kid Creole and the Coconuts Doppelganger

Rip It Up, Issue 77, 1 December 1983, Page 24

Kid Creole and the Coconuts Doppelganger

David Perkins

Ze From the sports desk: "My old football buddy, Richard Nixon, most feared people who might run amok and wanted them all put to sleep. Nothing to fear with these lounge lizards who croon (obtusely) about injustices and oppression in the atavistic land of Zylla over a back-beat of secondhand calypso melodies and Latin rhythms. Kid Creole, the perpetrator of this mad saga in 12 parts, is a sort of cross between Mohammed Ali and Clark Kent on speed ..." • As your attorney 1 advise caution. Like Gonzo journalism, Kid Creole and the Coconuts are an American phenomenon; they know the effect of words and the value of self-publicity but have developed stylistic strait-jackets. Wider concerns aside, Doppelganger isn't a bad album. The songs are well-performed, a fair mix of the lively and mediumpaced. Still, it's no coincidence that the best track, If You Wanna Be Happy', is a cover version. -

This is a case of hard sell soft centre, an album for the converted. Caveat emptor let the buyer beware. David Taylor

lan Hunter All the Good Ones Are Taken CBS lan Hunter's, return to CBS marks his most consistent album since his 1975 solo for the same label. As eclectic as his past offerings but this time around the songs have real strength. The title track opens and closes the album, treated initially as a rocker and then as a ballad. It features fine sax from Clarence Clemmons, who also lifts ’Seeing Double' out of the ordinary. But the major highlights are 'Fun', an ecstatic celebration of power rock and 'Speechless', a punchy pop song reminiscent of DD Smash. 'Death 'n' Glory Boys', the only track with Ronson playing guitar, seems out of place, a leftover from some previous session. In essence, a return to form from one of rock'n'roll's major figures and a fine epitaph for Guy Stephens, deceased producer of the early Mott the Hoople albums. Highly recommended.